Prof. em. Koen(raad) Van Balen, dr.eng.arch. is an emeritus professor at the KU Leuven, the Civil Engineering department, he is the former acting director of the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC) at the University of Leuven, holder of the PRECOM 3 OS UNESCO chair between 2008 and 2022. His field of expertise are (traditional/historic) construction materials and historic structures. He also has contributed in various way to embed cultural heritage in the domain of sustainable development and to emphasis the contribution of cultural heritage -as a knowledge depository- to understand complex socio-technical-environmental-cultural challenges today and as contribution to innovation and resilience for the future. He is active in various Cultural heritage related (international) organisations and actively involved in various Word Heritage Sites.